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Tigers look to defend the 3
1/27/2012
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
One of the staples of successful teams under 11th-year Fort Hays State University men's basketball coach Mark Johnson is strong field goal percentage defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense. From 2007-08 to 2010-11, FHSU won at least 19 games in each season and reached three NCAA Division II tournaments.
In that span, Fort Hays ranked fifth, fourth, first and first in the MIAA in field goal percentage defense, never allowing opponents to shoot more than 43 percent for a season.
In that span, the Tigers ranked sixth, third, first and first in 3-point field goal percentage defense.
In the last three seasons, FHSU never allowed opponents to shoot above 33 percent on 3s.
This winter, the Tigers stand fourth in field goal percentage defense (42 percent), but rank last in the 11-team MIAA in 3-point field goal percentage defense (37.9).
"To sum it up in a word: it's awful," Johnson said in his weekly news conference Monday. "Our 3-point field goal percentage defense is awful."
On Saturday, the Tigers, on a three-game winning streak, will have their second three-day, two-city road trip of the year. Fort Hays (13-4, 7-4 MIAA) has won three straight contests to move one and a half games out of first place. The Tigers, ranked No. 23 in NCAA Division II, will open the trip at Northwest Missouri State University (15-3, 9-3 MIAA), one of two teams tied for first. Northwest is receiving votes nationally.
"We lost those three games and we thought everything was going to go downhill, but it's not," senior Karron McKenzie, the team's leading scorer at 12.2 points per game, said. "We didn't give up. We stayed fighting."
Northwest Missouri is the only league team that hasn't lost a home game (8-0), while the Tigers are the league's best road team at 5-1. Game time is 3 p.m. from Maryville, Mo. The contest is the MIAA TV Game of the Week.
Northwest Missouri, helped by multiple talented players, ranks third in the league in 3-point field goal percentage at 36.5 percent.
"I think them and Washburn are very similar," Johnson said. "They have just a bunch of solid players, solid guys. They don't make a whole lot of mistakes on the defensive end. They don't have very many breakdowns on the offensive end. For the most part, they take good shots, move the ball. I don't know if there is really one guy who stands out as a tremendous player."
Fort Hays' struggles with perimeter defense can be attributed to several factors, including height disadvantage, defensive philosophy and several poor 3-point shooters suddenly shooting well versus the Tigers. Last Saturday, Lincoln (Mo.) University junior point guard Cedric Ridle, 10-of-40 on treys this season, went 5-of-8 versus the Tigers. On Jan. 18, Emporia State University sophomore Travis Dykman, 7-of-26 on 3s this winter, went 2-of-3 against Fort Hays.
"We have got to find a way to do a better job than what we have been doing," Johnson said.
Most of the issue stems from height. Last winter, Fort Hays held teams to 41 percent shooting from the field and 31 percent from beyond the arc partly because 6-foot-1, 185-pound guard Ben Congiusta was a solid defensive player. This year, Congiusta will miss the season because of a shoulder injury suffered in the offseason. Fort Hays normally has senior Moses Dayee (5-8, 185 pounds) and junior Kendrick Morse (5-8, 175) at the guards.
"We have Moses and Kendrick, they are not the tallest guys and I wouldn't say they are the most athletic guys and size really makes a difference when you are shooting the ball," Johnson said. "... It's a lot harder to make shots when tall people are running at you and I think part of it is, we are just a small team.
"We are small pretty much at every single position," he added. "It is easier to shoot over us and then also, we have got to do a better job. We have got to recover out to guys quicker and get out there and contest. Don't get beat off the bounce, so we don't have to over help. It's a combination of a lot of things."
Junior guard Omar McDade is 6-foot-4, 200 pounds and would be the most likely person to take over for Congiusta.
However, McDade sometimes plays the 3 (small forward) and has to focus on rebounding. Against Lincoln, Ridle played point guard, which made matchups difficult.
"The biggest problem is positions," Johnson said. "We have a way we get back on defense, our (point guard) and (shooting guard) got to take care of transition defense, so Omar is going to the offensive glass.
"When we get into a situation like Lincoln where the guy doing all the damage is a point guard, it's kind of hard to put Omar on that person," he added. "Where Ben being a (shooting)-guard, we could slide him on those guys and it didn't really affect our transition defense."
While Johnson would like to stop the 3-point shot, he also places a high value on transition defense.
"We feel like transition defense is pretty important," he added. "If you can't stop anybody in transition, it doesn't matter what you are doing in the half court, you are not going to win. That's kind of the dilemma. I am kind of head strong that way."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |